More commercial buildings going up in Invercargill

Friday, 18 December 2020

Henderson Construction onsite foreman Roger Morton, left, and Henderson Construction carpenter Ross Bray at the Invercargill Bond St site where the company has begun work to construct two commercial buildings, one for Blacks Fasteners [concrete pad behind] and one for Telfer Electrical.

Invercargill’s commercial construction boom continues with two new buildings going up on land which has long been vacant.

Blacks Fasteners and Telfer Southland, an electrical wholesalers, will move into the newly constructed buildings on the corner of Bond Street and Bond Place when they are completed next year.

Both businesses are relocating from other sites in the city.

The construction work is taking place on land owned by the HW Richardson Group.

HW Richardson Group director Scott O’Donnell said it had sold part of the block of land to the Telfer electrical business, which was building on it, while HWR would lease the second building on the block to Blacks Fasteners.

* City centre master plan a test of public imagination

* Invercargill architect has concerns with proposed city streetscape plan

O’Donnell said Bond St was a good location for “industrial-type retail” and he looked forward to the two businesses opening in 2021.

Blacks Fasteners Invercargill branch manager Carl Bragg said its new building would be bigger than its current premises further down Bond St, and it needed to be because the business was growing.

Telfer Southland manager Stephen Nunns said its directors decided they needed a new and bigger building in the city as it was a growing business.

“We are pretty positive about the Southland economy and we want to support our customers as much as possible.”

Henderson Construction is doing the building work, with director Brent Henderson saying each building would be about 1000sqm.

“It’s a bare piece of land that’s been around for a long time and it’s good to see it actually having stuff put on it rather than being left vacant.”

The buildings, being constructed with insulated panels, would look smart and be “good spaces” to work in, he said.

There was a lot of building work happening in the city and Henderson said he hoped it continued, though people’s confidence would be knocked if the Tiwai aluminium smelter closed.